Does Your Diabetes Medication Contain Cancer-Causing Chemicals?

The FDA has been busy cracking down on contaminated prescription medications. So far, six drugs have tested positive for a chemical that shouldn’t be in any of them. Officials are still pinpointing how and why so many different medicines have the same problem, but the latest crackdown has involved the diabetes medication metformin.

An Alarming Discovery in Metformin

According to the American Chemical Society, laboratories started finding a chemical called N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in some drug compounds in 2018. NDMA is a suspected carcinogen. The same chemical forms in small amounts when we roast meats and ferment foods and drinks but the danger there is much less serious since it's often in such small amounts. In pharmaceuticals the NDMA can form when certain compounds come together or degrade.

Researchers still aren’t sure how NDMA is turning up in metformin, although at least one precursor, dimethylamine, is used in the manufacturing process. A contaminant may be finding its way into the process to combine with dimethylamine and create NDMA. The chemical could even be coming from the packaging, according to some experts. No matter what, the source does need to be found so this problem can be controlled.

Identifying Recall Items with NDMA

So far, the FDA has issued over 250 metformin recalls. Affected manufacturers are:

• Amneal Pharmaceuticals
• AVKARE Inc (a.k.a. Amneal)
• Apotex Corp, Bayshore Pharmaceuticals
• Denton Pharma, Inc. (a.k.a. Marksans)
• Direct Rx (a.k.a. Marksans)
• Granules Pharmaceuticals
• Lupin Pharmaceutical
• Marksans Pharma Limited
• PD-Rx Pharmaceuticals (a.k.a. Amneal)
• Preferred Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (a.k.a. Marksans)
• RemedyRepack Inc. (a.k.a. Marksans)
• Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries, Inc.
• Teva Pharmaceuticals

But even if your meds are included in this list, it's best to keep taking them. The FDA recommends people who have recalled metformin to continue taking it until their doctors can prescribe suitable replacements. The risks of going without diabetes management far outweigh those that come with taking the contaminated medication for a short while longer. Talk to a doctor or pharmacist for more details on safely switching prescriptions.

It seems these days that we can’t take anything for granted as safe, not even the medications we count on to stay healthy. The best we can do is keep up on recalls and communicate with healthcare professionals about how best to minimize our risks. Given that the experts aren't yet sure where the contamination is happening, metformin might not be the last drug we see making NDMA recall lists so be sure to keep up on the latest in this area and check up on each of your meds periodically just to be safe.

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